Howl's Daughter
by alexli14
Summary: The Story of Howl and Sophie's daughter and how she grew up loving Markl before he left. Now she has to find her way in life, but she gets a little sidetracked. Can Markl help her rediscover her passion for life and magic?
1. The First Lesson

Lucille – or Lucy – Jenkins Pendragon sat in the flower meadow her mother and father so dearly loved and remembered the first time she had learnt how to wield magic. It had been in this very meadow. Her mother Sophie had stood at a distance, watching as Howl and Lucy practiced their magic together. Lucy had been dying for years to learn the practical side of magic, since she had spent years reading and writing about magic. Howl had finally given in and had accepted Lucy as an apprentice.

"Now Lucy, I want you to look inside yourself, just like you've read. We'll start with a simple shield spell. Calm your mind, slow down your breathing. Can you see that ball of floating mist? " Howl had paused to watch Lucy, and then resumed speaking when he saw her nod. "Good, reach into it and grasp a bit of the mist. Just a bit, though, too much or you'll exhaust yourself."

Lucy had timidly grabbed a thin line of the blue coloured mist and dragged it out. When she opened her eyes, she saw that her hands were holding a blue fire. She looked up at her father and saw him watching her proudly. Seeing a slight movement off to her side, Lucy had noticed Markl join her mother and saw he was watching her with the same pride her father had on his face.

Markl was eight years older than Lucy and by then was very far along in his magical studies. He'd been with the Pendragon family Lucy's whole life and Lucy had loved him dearly. When she was little she would follow him along like a little duckling, copying his every move, wanting to be just like him. All her mother would have to say was, "Markl eats his vegetables like a good boy so he can get big and strong. Don't you want to as well?" and straight away Lucy was digging into her vegetables, determined to be just like him.

Turning back to Howl Lucy watched as her father demonstrated how to form a shield. The fire had spread from his hands until it formed a barrier between him and Lucy. Once it was fully formed he had gestured for Lucy to try. Lucy had determinedly looked back down at her hands and concentrated, slowly making the fire grow, pushing it outwards from herself until she too had a shield surrounding her.

Lucy had whooped for joy, losing concentration immediately but not caring. "Did you see that Markl? I did it, I made a shield! Soon I'll be as good as you or daddy!" Lucy had shouted, jumping around the meadow. Howl, Sophie and Markl had laughed at her outburst.

"It was excellent, but you've got to keep trying to better than us!" Markl said.

"All right darling, that was great, but let's keep going," Howl said, and Lucy had nodded and moved back to stand in front of her father.


	2. Markl Leaving

A few weeks after Lucy's tenth birthday, Lucy was sitting on the large couch, looking very small on the seat made for three. She was determinedly studying the Basics of Magic her father had set for her to finish before he came back that night. Lucy was an extremely fast reader, she knew she could finish it in an hour if she put her mind to it.

Lucy had been so focused on her studying that she hadn't noticed Markl come in the door until he hollered out, "Anybody home. Lucy, you there?"

Lucy had sat up quickly, smiling at him. "Yes, I'm here, what's up?" Markl had walked over to Lucy and sat down next to her. She was surprised to see sadness in his normally smiling green eyes. At eighteen he had grown into a handsome young man, and Lucy very much admired him. She often dreamed that Markl would wait for her to grow up and that they'd fly off together, defeating evil witches and wizards and that exciting stuff her father did.

"Lucy, I have some news. Your father has decided that I'm ready to go on my own adventures now. He said I didn't have to if I didn't want to but… Well I've decided I will leave, in fact, I'm leaving tomorrow," Markl said, never taking his eyes off Lucy. She sat there for a while, stunned at the fact that this boy who was practically her brother was leaving her.

"W-will I see you ever again?" Lucy asked sadly. Her bright blue eyes shined sadly, her long brown hair partly covering her face. Markl leaned forward and brushed her hair away from her face.

"Of course, I'll visit every year if I can, on your birthday. I promise!" Markl said.

Lucy looked up at him and smiled happily, saying, "Well that's okay then, I don't mind if I still get to see you. But you promised, so you have to do it, okay? And promise you won't forget me."

Markl laughed, happy to see that she was okay. "I promise," he said again. "But we still have the evening together so let's have some fun, we'll see if Howl and Sophie want to go into town with us, I'm sure Sophie will be happy that she doesn't have to cook tonight. I think it was her turn."

Lucy nodded and Markl laughed again and held out his hand for her told hold. He was so much taller than her, Lucy only came up to his chest. Lucy smiled up at him and took his hand as they went through portal and into the city to find her mother and father.


	3. What to do about Lucy?

Howl waited on the balcony of his room, a room which had long since become a shared room with Sophie. Through the open doors Howl could see Sophie sleeping peacefully in their bed, her shining silver hair glistening in the faint moonlight that trickled through the door.

Howl heard a gently thump and turned around to see Markl land gently next to him, turning gracefully back from a hawk into a man. He was now twenty six and had fully grown into his long figure, muscled and well-toned. His brown hair had grown longer in the two years since Howl had last seen him.

"How is she Howl? I've heard so many negative comments about Lucy that I was beginning to worry. Is she okay" Markl asked softly.

Howl simply shook his head sadly. "It's bad; sometimes I wish I'd never shown her the royal court. Lucy has no ambition; she simply wants to sit around with her so-called friends and gossip. Lucy may have finished her magician training and she may be a full witch, but she hasn't matured at all. As soon as Lucy finished her training Sophie and I were ready to leave, after spending so much time at court, but Lucy didn't want to come. So she stays at court, content to waste her life," Howl said, sighing sadly.

"Do you think I could help at all? I fell like it's my fault. I left you all to go on my quest and I thought she was ready to see me leave, but maybe not," Markl said, looking down at the clouds which hid the Earth and all its inhabitants. He knew that Lucy was down there somewhere, sleeping peacefully; or perhaps not. Perhaps she was with some young gentleman. Markl had certainly heard the rumours of the young Lucy Pendragon and had gotten into many fights with boys boasting to have taken her to bed.

"No, maybe not," Howl replied softly. "Why don't you stay the night Markl, we still have your old room here, Sophie would be delighted to see you in the morning and you know Calcifer wouldn't mind seeing you either. We can chat more about what to do about Lucy in the morning."

Markl nodded and Howl moved to go back inside as Markl prepared to teleport into his old room. "Remember Markl, don't use your hawk form too much, or you will forget who you are. Surely you haven't forgotten _all _my lessons?" Howl said lightly.

Markl smiled at him and laughed saying, "I've never forgotten a single lesson you taught me."


	4. The Meeting

Lucy decided that her favourite place at court was the roof terrace, which was filled with small trees of all types and bushes covered in flowers. Grass covered the entire ground, making it resemble the meadow Lucy loved so much, although it was a much smaller version. Howl had had it built just for Lucy when she had complained about how much she hated the palace gardens. The building the roof terrace was on housed all the guests that came to the court. It was one of the smaller buildings, only three levels high. It was quite close to the main courtyard where all the visitors entered and Lucy and her friends were usually the first to see the new visitors arrive.

Howl had asked if he could create a place for Lucy and the King had allowed it. Seats were placed all around the garden and Lucy and her friends were lounging on the chairs, warming up in the sun before winter set in and it was too cold to come up to the garden.

Lucy had her hand placed over her face, covering her eyes from the sun when a Henry, a boy who'd been chasing her for months came racing out from the entrance to the garden saying, "Lucy, I can't stand it anymore, I love you and I know you do too!"

Lucy slowly lowered her hand from her face and sat up, yawning and looking at Henry with a bored expression. "Well, what a shame for you because I don't love you and I never will. No matter how many times you ask me it will never change. Jacob, Charles, will you show him out, he's boring me."

The two boys, who had been lying about in the trees above the little group, jumped down lightly. Jacob was the tall, dark and handsome sort, and he acted an Alpha male, but in truth Lucy had no interest in him. Charles was a baby faced young man who idolised Jacob and did everything he could to be exactly like Jacob. He reminded Lucy of herself when she had been obsessed with being like Markl, but she thought it was stupid for Charles to still be obsessed like that at their age. They were eighteen years old, for god's sake.

"You know the rules Henry; don't annoy Lucy when she's up in the garden," Jacob said, reaching out to grab Henry's arm. Charles nodded and moved to do the same.

Henry yanked his arm away and stepped back, anger clouding over his face. He turned to Lucy and said, "Fine, I'll leave. Whatever. This is so stupid; you act like you're royalty when you're not. You're just some dumb witch who can't even do magic." He turned and ran to the door of the garden and slammed it shut.

Lucy simply shrugged and lay back down as her friends reassured her that she was great at magic, they'd all seen her do it. _As if I need any of these idiots to tell me I can do magic. I know perfectly well I can, I was almost as good as my father. _Lucy thought to herself.

Just as they were all settling down the door was once again slammed open as a message runner rushed over to Lucy. "Afternoon Miss Pendragon," he panted, fumbling for a water bottle and taking a gulp before continuing. "The King sent me up here to inform you that Master Markl has just arrived at the palace. He's down in the main courtyard at the moment."

Lucy jumped up and rushed to the edge of the building, rushing through the flower gardens to get to the railing at the edge of the building. She heard her friends come up behind her but she didn't take notice of them. Her focus was completely on the figure below. She stared for a moment before turning away.

"Don't get your hopes up guys. That's not him, it's only a copy. He's probably already in the palace and the copy's just a distraction," Lucy said calmly.

"How on earth would you know that? I know you grew up with him but still…" Mary-Ann said. When Lucy had first arrived at court Mary-Ann was the first person who had approached Lucy and shown her the ropes to the court.

"I was there when my father taught him how to make a copy. It was the one thing Markl struggled with, the copy would always flicker. He's much better now but I can still see the occasional flicker." Seeing the disbelieving looks on her friends' faces Lucy shrugged and turned back to look at the copy below.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you can remember the fact that I couldn't make a good enough copy," A deep voice said from behind Lucy. It was deeper than the voice she remember but the tone was still there.

"I remember because it was the one thing I could do better than you. My copies are perfect in comparison to yours, Markl," Lucy said without turning around. She heard her friends gasp and look between Markl and the copy below.

Lucy felt Markl come up beside her and lean on the metal railings. "Do you mind if you give Lucy and I some time to catch up. We haven't seen each other in such a long time," Markl said, turning back to smile charmingly at the others.

They all hesitated and turned to look at Lucy. "Go ahead guys, I'll be fine," she said, shrugging once more. One by one they left, moving gently so as not to ruin the flowers.

"What are you doing here," Lucy asked flatly. Markl didn't look surprised at her blunt tone.

"I suppose I deserve that attitude," he said sadly.

"Yeah, you do. You promised me Markl. You promised me that every year you'd visit me on my birthday and not once, not _once _did you come and see me. I was devastated Markl." Lucy turned desperately towards him. "How could you?"

Markl sighed and rested his face in his hands. "I know. In the first few years I was so busy with my missions that I couldn't get away. By the fourth year you'd moved to court to learn from the other witches and wizards as well as from your father. I'd heard all these rumours about you and about how you were –

"Such a let down; yeah I know. I heard it every day from all my teachers. 'You're so talented but why aren't you trying harder' blah, blah, blah," Lucy interrupted. It was true. She knew she could be a great witch, but she didn't care. It was all so boring in comparison to the parties that were going on. Eventually her father had given up and left her at court, telling her that he'd teach her once she grew up a little.

"I know you Lucy," Markl said softly. "I know you're better than that and I couldn't understand why you were doing it. I didn't come see you because I thought maybe if you didn't see me you'd focus more on studying. I know now that I should have done the opposite and tried to see you as much as I could."

"It doesn't matter now, does it? In fact, I think you helped me grow up. I know now not to trust anyone and to not get close." Lucy said angrily. She narrowed her eyes and turned, looking at him for the first time. "I used to follow you around so much; I was useless when you weren't around. That's not a way to live and it's your fault. I won't forgive you. _Ever._"

She stormed off, leaving Markl behind. He sighed again. Howl had been right; she was so different from the upbeat little girl he grew up with. It was true that she had followed him everywhere, when he was little he'd been annoyed by it, but now he could see how different she was; he wanted to see his little friend again. He had a lot of work if he wanted to bring back his friend.


	5. The King's Mission

When the King of Ingary called Lucy into his study, Lucy found that she was extremely nervous. When she'd first come in he'd told her to sit down while a page collected some drinks for them. He'd explained that he had to finish some work quickly and that she'd have to wait a bit.

For over ten minutes he signed papers as Lucy sat their restless, waiting to hear what he wanted her for. As a child growing up she'd heard much about the King who'd been more of a figurehead than an actual ruler, since Howl's former teacher had really been the one in charge. When she'd passed away the King had stepped up and taken charge, doing more than just organising the army like he used to. He was a fairly good King.

After ten minutes of waiting the King finally looked up. "Ah, yes, sorry about that. Anyway, the reason I've called you hear is because I have a mission I need you to take on." He paused to gauge Lucy's reaction and Lucy took the chance to speak up, even though it was really against protocol.

"A mission, but I never get missions! Give it someone else, I don't want it," Lucy stopped, aware that she'd just ordered the King to do something. "I- I mean no disrespect but I'm not experienced enough."

The King gently put up a hand, "That's alright; I know you meant no harm. And anyway, the point of this mission is to gain experience. I know that you have the potential to be a very talented witch, you simply lack… experience" he finished lamely. Lucy could tell he had wanted to use another word but had changed his mind at the last moment.

"Well, okay I guess I should gain some experience, but what's the actual mission?" Lucy asked reluctantly, wringing her hands under the table nervously. For the past year Lucy had felt that the court was begin to become boring and that she wanted to do something else. This could be her chance.

"Oh, right. Yes, I should probably tell you that," the King said distractedly. " So, you won't have heard of the incident, but lately some girls have been kidnapped from their beds. The problem is that there hasn't been any sign of a struggle; they're just gone by the next morning. We suspect magic has been involved, and that it's a rogue witch or wizard, although supposedly a wizard. Many of my advisors suggest that it's Wizard Cosmos, he went rogue a few years back after we had an argument and hasn't been seen since. One family recently reported that there was a rune left on their daughters' pillow and a symbol in the shape of a dead tree, which was Cosmos' family coat of arms."

"I've heard of that. My friends told me just the other day. But, how can I help, isn't it too dangerous for me, you know, since he's stealing girls?" said Lucy.

"In any case this mission is too dangerous for a girl – or woman I should say – so I've organised for Master Markl to accompany you and –

"What! No I won't go with _him,_" Lucy exclaimed, jumping up furiously. "Markl is – he's…"

"He is a talented Wizard who will be able to protect you if you get into trouble. I always have two magicians on a mission when one of them is a novice. You are lucky and privileged to have such a highly esteemed wizard as your training partner. You _will _go on this quest with Master Markl and you _will _do exactly as asks. It is for your protection." The King stood up as he said this, towering over Lucy. She reminded herself that this was the King she was speaking to and that he would likely throw her in gaol for treason if she refused.

Lucy bowed her head meekly saying, "Yes, Your Majesty, of course I will accept the mission."

The King sat down and relaxed. "Good. Go and pack and meet with Markl at the main courtyard at exactly the eighth hour of the morning. You will each be given a Flying Kayak and supplies tomorrow. Dismissed." With that the King returned to signing his papers, not even noticing Lucy as she left.


	6. Sneaking Away

"And so now I'm being forced to go with _him _because the King wants me to and of course I can't refuse the King without being thrown in gaol or something!" Lucy said unhappily to Mary-Ann. They had been sitting on Lucy's bed for the past half hour while Lucy had recounted everything that had happened, starting with why she hated Markl so much.

"But don't you want to make up with Markl, maybe he's sad that you hate him," Mary said, pushing back her long orange hair behind her ears. She was stockily built and many young men often called her fat, but she didn't mind. She was one of the smartest people in the court and thought that there was no time for romance when there was a bridge to be designed.

"No. Honestly, I'd be happy if I never saw his face again. But for some reason he's turned up now, and suddenly I'm being forced into taking a mission with him. He probably asked the King that I come along on this stupid mission just to annoy me," said Lucy. She got up and paced around the room clenching and unclenching her fists repeatedly.

"Well then, just tell him to stay away from you while you're on your mission," Mary paused for a moment, biting her nails as she thought quickly, saying, "Although, that wouldn't work because spending time with only him for company for weeks and possibly months means that there'd be no chance of that."

Lucy slumped back down on the bed in defeat. "There's nothing I can do is there? I'll have to endure the torture of being with Markl," she said, spitting his name out venomously. "I don't mind the mission; I'd happily go and get those poor girls out of the claws of that evil wizard, but…"

"Well maybe… maybe you could sneak out tonight and go off on the mission by yourself. If you defeat the wizard by yourself the King will be happy and you won't have to have a partner in future if you can talk on an s class wizard all by yourself," Mary-Ann said thoughtfully.

"Yes…maybe. If I break into the sheds where the flying kayaks are and take one. Or maybe I could just fly by myself. I haven't done that in a while, but I think I'd be okay," Lucy said. She was starting to get excited by the idea of sneaking out.

Lucy pulled out the chalk she kept in her pocket at all times and knelt onto the floor, drawing a circle with lines crisscrossing through it. When she had finished drawing she pulled out her travelling pack and placed in the middle of the circle.

"Keep your feet of the floor Mary, just in case," Lucy said distractedly.

Lucy murmured the spell she had practiced hundreds of time and watched as the room lit up in a blue hue. A buzzing sound gradually grew in dynamics and just as Mary and Lucy couldn't stand it a loud POP sounded. Suddenly objects were flying around the room before dropping into the knapsack. The spell served two purposes. It allowed the user to call the items they needed into the bag while also making the bag have a finite amount of space.

When it was finished the buzzing and the blue light immediately disappeared. Lucy picked up the travel bag, wiping the chalk off it and off the floor. She looked up to see Mary-Ann staring at her in amazement.

"Wow Lucy. That was absolutely… just… perfect! I didn't know you were that good," Mary said, her mouth still hanging open.

"Thanks Mary. A lot of my teachers told me I had potential but that I was lazy. Once they said that I'd just go along pretending not to listen to them so that they'd leave. Really, I took all the information in, I just didn't want them to have the satisfaction."

"Well, I'm just, absolutely stunned. At this rate you'd easily take out Wizard Cosmos! No need to worry at all."

"Thanks Mary," Lucy said again. "That means a lot."

"No problem. So, should we work out a plan on how to get you out of here and off to find Cosmos? Wait, do you even know where to start?" Mary asked confusedly.

"Oh. Well, not exactly, but I'll here stuff on the road. I'm sure I'll be fine," Lucy responded cheerfully. _I can do this!_ Lucy thought to herself determinedly.

The two girls spent the rest of the afternoon planning, not even noticing the little bird that sat at the open window, listening to every word.


End file.
